Friends, if you’ve been following me for awhile you know that accountability is one of my favorite things.
If you’re new here- guess what? Accountability is one of my favorite things!
Today I’m talking about accountability two ways- and challenging you to think about how to create accountability among your team.
If you find yourself, or notice a colleague, acting defensive, not meeting deadlines, or committing my new pet-peeve-workplace-blunder (I’ll share what it is in the video!) you’ve got an accountability problem, y’all.
Check out the video below for my thoughts, then scroll down to learn more and grab your free guide on “How To Turn A Difficult Conversation Into A Productive One” if you need help chatting with those less-than-accountable team members!
After you’ve checked out the video, won’t you head down to the comments section? We want to hear from you! How are you practicing accountability? Are you over-promising? Under-promising? Let’s chat!
You can make a real difference for someone else when you share your story. So don’t be shy about leaving a comment. Every little bit of wisdom helps!
P.S. In the video, I reference being inspired by how Cy Wakeman thinks about accountability. You can follow her here!
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– Hey there, friend, it’s Stefanie Krievins with The Problem Solvers School, where I share tips and encouragement so you can fix your hot messes. Today we are talking about one of my favorite topics, and it strikes fear in the heart of many. Here’s the word: accountability. I love it. Did that just make your armpits sweat a little bit? I love this word; here’s why. Accountability, when you have it for yourself and when your team has it, this is how you will make an impact in your organization and in your world. Here’s why. Because if you don’t follow through on your promises, if you don’t do what you say you will do, nothing will change. I wanna tell you guys a story. When I first started out in my career, I had a big job, meaning there was just a lot of work, just a lot of work. I had seven bosses. I worked with seven different agencies, had to get out 21 printed newsletters a year, eight different, really like twelve fundraising letters. There was a lot of work. I found myself in a position of constantly over-promising and under-delivering. I felt like shit. I was saying I’m sorry a lot. I knew I wasn’t living from a place of integrity, which is one of my top values. I just felt like I was constantly on the defensive because I was trying to catch up, I was trying to deliver on my promises, and I just wasn’t. Then when I switched jobs, I moved to an organization where accountability was really very, very high. It wasn’t okay to be in a constant position for apologizing for yourself. It wasn’t okay to over-promise and under-deliver; you just delivered. At this organization, I really learned the power of accountability and follow-through. I wanna talk about accountability today with you all from two perspectives. One is your own personal sense of responsibility. This word ghosting, first it started in the whole online dating world, and now it pervades every piece of our culture and our workplaces because somehow, somewhere, people have come up with this idea that you can just ghost on your responsibilities, the big ones and the small ones. That is not okay, absolutely not okay. If you’ve done that, y’all, I need you to make amends. I need you to go back and apologize and take responsibility for the work that is yours to do. One of the mottos that I live by is, always do what you say you will do. This is how I sleep at night. This is how I change the world. This is how I make shit happen in my businesses and for my clients. Here’s the second piece of accountability that I wanna talk about today with you all, and that’s accountability for other people to you. You’re the manager, you’re the leader, you’re the CEO. You need people to be accountable and responsible to you and to the organization for following through on work, to meeting their promises, to getting the results that you all had hoped for and worked so hard for. One of the people that I’ve been following in this area, her name is Cy Wakeman, and I just think she’s a genius. She says you can’t hold people accountable. The first time I heard that, I was like, what are you talking about, Cy? Yes, you can. But then she says you can’t hold people accountable. You can ask them to step up into their greatness. That’s so much more powerful than accountability. People, if they don’t want to be held accountable, they will not be held accountable. They will blame, they will shame, they will give you guilt trips, they will give themself guilt trips all day long. If they do not want to be held accountable, they will find ways to evade responsibility. Instead, the invitation that Cy gives us is to help people step up into their greatness, to follow through, to live with integrity. I don’t know about you, but that’s what I want in my life, and I hope that that’s what you want as a leader for your team, too. If you don’t follow her already on LinkedIn, I really encourage you to do that. I wanna hear from you guys, in the stories, wherever you’re watching this, in the comments; where has accountability changed the dynamic of a relationship? Where has accountability changed what was possible in your organization, either for you, for your team, for the results that you all were seeking? Now, friends, it’s time to get off the Internet and get the real work done. Go back and meet those deadlines, do what you say you will do, and I’ll see you next time.
